1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to kits that may be assembled into three dimensional works of a virtually infinite variety of shapes, while requiring exercise of creativity and fine motor skills, and in particular to works that are multi-layered and created of separate shaped parts connected together to form the work.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, many kits have been developed and commercialized, and the most common, perhaps, is the simple “jig saw” puzzle. Such puzzles are generally in the form of a multiplicity of pieces, that when appropriately assembled, form a two dimensional picture or design. These puzzles can be manufactured by printing a design or picture onto a fairly stiff paperboard, and then incising the paperboard in a predetermined fashion to cut it into a multiplicity of pieces that fit together. The pieces are then separated and packaged. The consumer buys the packaged jig saw puzzle, and the challenge is to reassemble the pieces to produce the original work, whether a design, or a picture.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,113,518 to Rosen asserts a multi-dimensional puzzle, of the “jig saw” variety, and shows a two-layered assembled puzzle in FIGS. 10 and 11, in which the assembled upper jig saw puzzle layer is raised on mounting blocks and located above the lower assembled jig saw puzzle layer. The pieces of the puzzle, as presented to the user, are preformed and are not created by the user. U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,650 also provides a three dimensional puzzle of the jig saw type. Each piece is precut into a predetermined shape, as with all jig saw puzzles, and has a predetermined place where it fits into the design, to form the final three-dimensional assembled puzzle structure. As with the standard jig saw puzzle, the user's creativity is not tested in either U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,113,518 or 5,860,650. Rather, the jig saw puzzle challenges the user's ability to match shapes and colors to (re)create the assembled puzzle structure.
A variety of kits are described in the patent literature. These have in common the use of standard provided shaped parts, or components, that may be assembled together to create either a particular shape, or a shape that is amenable to being formed, based on the particular uniform shape of the components. U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,631 asserts that its “interlocking building blocks” of particular shapes may be assembled to form polyhedrons or other geometric shapes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,853,313 and 5,938,496 assert that its construction system uses a deformable section to interconnect provided pre-shaped component parts together. But, as with virtually all other building block systems, the shapes of the blocks are predetermined. The consumer's creativity may be challenged to some extent in that a variety of “finished assemblies” may be made. But ultimately the predetermined shapes of the blocks do impose limitations on the potential range of finished assembly shapes.